Poppy's Picture
by Zorua Illusion
Summary: I mentioned in Jack and His Camera about his first picture being of his little sister... what happens when she finds it in his hoodie pocket one day? Oneshot.


**A/N: I just remembered this… Jack took a picture of his sister in "Jack and His Camera"…**

**What happens when Poppy finds it buried in his hoodie?**

It was a slow day for the Frost Reis: it was now Southern Winter, so Jack hardly had anything to do, and for some reason, Poppy wasn't needed anywhere, as not as many people were laughing. There were days like this, days of international tragedy or remembrance, but the point is that neither Jack nor Poppy were needed anywhere. North, as always, was preparing for Christmas, Bunny was tending his flowers, and Tooth and Sandy were doing their jobs.

So, to shorten that paragraph: the siblings were bored and didn't want to bug anyone, so they just hung around in the igloo that was becoming more of a crossover between a cabin and a tree house. It was their home during the Southern Winter. The penguin army waddled around, having snowball fights and swimming around, catching fish. They don't really _need_ to eat, but it's enjoyable for them, so they do it whenever they get a chance and feel like it.

Apparently, I'm really good at getting off track. Jack and Poppy were hanging around in their igloo/cabin/tree house, Jack playing Pokémon and Poppy literally _hanging_ from a rafter just like Jack hung from trees- upside down, suspended by her knees. She had successfully stolen Jack's hoodie earlier, and after a half-hearted chase around the place, she had leapt (with the help of the Wind) up there. Jack gave up and started playing Pokémon, putting them where they are now. That was about an hour ago. Poppy had started hanging upside down about a minute ago, and now let the blood drain from her head by sitting right side up. Out of boredom and curiosity, Poppy started rifling through her brother's old, frosted blue hoodie pocket. In it, she found a screwdriver, some shoe polish (what), a sword (even more what), a jackhammer (very funny, Jack), and a few dozen photos. She put the hoodie down and started shifting through the pictures.

They were mostly of the other Guardians: There was a bright pink Bunny, Sandy playing with a mermaid, North and Phil chest-bumping, Tooth dancing, the Burgess Believers, and a Jack the Snowman, surrounded by the Burgess Believers except for Jamie, who had probably taken the picture.

But there was one photo that was slightly more worn than the rest. It was probably developed before the others. Poppy turned it around and was shocked when her own face, three years younger physically, met her. It was an old sketch that Jack had gotten for her one year for Christmas. He had saved up enough money to get supplies and he had enough time in the fields to do them all. They had all received one, and the one of the whole family was placed nearby the mantle, but far enough away so the paper wouldn't float too close to the flames and burn.

"Jackson?"

The rare use of his full first name had Jack closing the DS and standing to face his sister with a questioning look on his face.

"What is it, Pippa?"

She turned the photo around, not quite sure what she wanted to ask.

Jack climbed up to sit near her. He gently took the photo from her and looked at it while he was talking.

"You know how I mentioned that for a week after I gained the bigger-on-the-inside pocket I started collecting things? One of those things was a disposable camera… I got the digital one later, a 'birthday' present from North… on what he thought was my birthday."

"Was it?"

"No, but I don't have the heart to correct him. Plus, he got the date right, just not the month. So, anyway, I got the camera. Jamie was doing… something or another; I think a history project about the foundation of Burgess, so of course we'd show up. Back then, I didn't know you were a spirit… so I took a picture when I saw it. It reminded me of why I became a Guardian… because I gave my life for yours. Even though that turned out to be a bit… futile."

"I gave my life for a little boy who had just lost his first baby tooth. I have no regrets," Poppy declared.

"I know you don't." Jack put the picture back in his hoodie and hugged his sister, slightly rocking her and wrapping his body around her, as if he was afraid she would leave.

Poppy knew he was in one of his moods, where sometimes his memories came back. Tooth's case of his teeth had shown him the most important memories of his childhood, the ones he needed to see most at the time, and they had unlocked the floodgates, so to speak. Often, though, they either started or ended with him falling through the ice, because that was the beginning of his new life, but the end of his old. So Poppy remained still, shifting only to hug her brother back.

The two stayed like that for a long while, until a penguin came in, babbling it's head off in its language, that getting the two siblings down to the ground to listen better.

They both rushed out as soon as they heard that a few of the others had been ensnared in a fishing net from a boat that was abnormally close to the icy continent.

Jack, understandably, was a little ticked. They had _trapped_ some of his helpers? And they were too close. He was going to scare them off with a blizzard, but that would have to wait until he and Poppy untangled the four that were caught in the net. They succeeded, eventually, and Jack took off, pushing clouds behind the boat and waiting until they set off before continuing to push them in a crude race where the winner was already determined. Once they were a bit farther than was strictly necessary, Jack let the blizzard go just a bit behind the thing before racing back to check on his helpers.

All of them were fine, thank goodness, and Jack and Poppy went back to their igloo/cabin/tree house and fell asleep together.

The picture was never brought up again. But it still remained in Jack's pocket, brought out on the rare occasion Jack was bringing snow and Poppy was somewhere else, and smiled upon.

**A/N: And that's what happened.**


End file.
